Microarray devices and uses thereof have become an essential part of biochemistry and molecular biology. As a high throughput detection technique, microarray devices have been widely used in biological, medical and other related fields such as life science research, drug screening, disease diagnosis, agricultural or food inspection and judicial examination, etc. (Bull et al., Br. J Cancer, 84(11):1512-9 (2001); and Zhu et al., Science, 293:2101-5 (2001)).
Microarray reactions are effected via microarray devices. The quality of the microarray devices determines not only speed and convenience of the reactions, but also the quality of the reaction results, e.g., strength of the signal, strength of the noise, signal uniformity and assay reliability.
Take a gene chip as an example, current microarray reaction devices are comprised of microarray slide, cover and hybridization cassette. The microarray slide is often the standard slide with the size of 1″×3″ and the cover is often the plastic or glass plate with a thickness of 0.16 mm. The hybridization or reaction cassette is often comprised of metal, plastic or a combination thereof. Microarray reaction devices, especially the hybridization or reaction cassettes, have been improved greatly (U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,159,727 and 6,258,593). However, the microarray slide and cover can still be improved in numerous aspects including: 1) Because the standard-sized slide is used, a relatively large amount of sample is needed to cover the slide, which may result in waste of precious or expensive sample; 2) When multiple samples are analyzed on a single slide, it is easy to have cross-contamination and reduce assay reliability; 3) Without a positioning structure between the slide and the cover, the cover may slide along the surface of the slide causing unequal thickness of hybridization liquid, reducing signal uniformity and increasing noise level at certain area; and 4) When multiple samples are analyzed on a single slide, it is often necessary to seek for arrayed locations for attaching probes thereupon, rendering the operation inconvenient, reducing speed and assay reliability.
When multiple samples are analyzed on a single slide, the use of grille adhered closely to the surface of the chip has been suggested (CN 1261669). This design may render the operation more convenient, but it still does not address the assay consistency and stability.
The present invention addresses the above and other related concerns in the art.